Liu Leads Amateur Contingent at Women's China Open

Shanghai, China: China’s top two female amateurs will be gunning for glory when they tee-off in the 17th edition of the Women’s China Open today.

Liu Yujie and Cui Jinghan are among a five-strong amateur contingent participating in the CLPG Tour’s RMB1 million showpiece event at PGA Anying Golf Club on Chongming Island.

Located on a rural island in northeast Shanghai on an estuary of the Yangtze River, the PGA Anying layout features rolling sand dunes and challenging green complexes that are made more difficult with large waste bunkers or pot bunkers and an ever-present wind.

Liu, 16th in the World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR) and already a two-time winner on the CLPG Tour, said: “The last time I played this course was two years ago. It’s a very typical links-style course with a lot of elevation changes and strong winds. The course is playing much longer this year, so it’s a very challenging test.”

The Beijing teenager, daughter of former table tennis world champion and Olympic gold medallist Liu Guoliang, will not be short on confidence after an impressive run of performances in recent month which included a runner-up finish at the Girls Junior PGA Championship and fifth at the US Women’s Amateur Championship.

Liu said: “The CLPG Tour has been getting stronger over the past few years with more and more talented players from countries such as Canada, the United States and Thailand coming to compete.

“It shows that the Tour is continuing to develop, and that both the quality of the fields and the level of competition are getting higher.”

Challenging Liu for amateur honours at PGA Anying are Cui, 79th in the WAGR, and Meng Ziyan (186th). Both are five-time winners on China’s amateur circuit.

Completing the line-up of amateurs are Zhao Jingru, last year’s China Open Amateur winner, and Canadian Shauna Liu, runner-up at the Golfjoy Women’s Open in March and currently 55th in the WAGR.

Among the professionals aiming to usurp Pang Runzhi as champion, are Ren Yijia, the big hitting 16-year-old who has won six times on the CLPG Tour and currently leads the points ranking, Zhou Shiyuan, the rookie pro who won three times on Tour as an amateur, 18-year-old An Zining, winner of last year’s China Golf Women’s Legacy event, and 17-year-old Li Menghan, joint runner-up at the Max Caihong Qingdao Women’s Open in June.